Tag Archives: LIght to the World

Being Light

Advent

December 21, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7
The people who walked in darkness
   have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
   on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
   you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
   as with joy at the harvest,
   as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
   and the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor,
   you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors
   and all the garments rolled in blood
   shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually,
   and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
   He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
   from this time onwards and for evermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

When I take in this scripture, I start reading it until I find myself singing it in the chorus of my mind. That is how it should be as the existential experience of battles over darkness ends, and a child is born who is light and brings light and enables us to be light. We are coming to the end of a dark year. The COVID pandemic has sewn darkness across our world. Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth good will to men*. Faith, Hope, and Love are stronger. God is not dead nor doth he sleep*.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for coming among us to seed us with your light and love. Amen.

*From I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Light

Lent
March 11, 2018

 Scripture Reading: John 3:14-21

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ –John 3:19-21

There is an attitude in our land that If I do something, it is right even if it is wrong when someone else does it. I think Jesus would label that hypocritical. Most prominent in politics, it crosses all strata of life.  I lost count of the Oklahoma legislators who have resigned this year for inappropriate behavior; I think it is four, but it may be five. These are the people who are supposed to be writing the laws by which we are to live and appropriating the use of our tax dollars.

Many talk in holier-than-thou language. One Congressman from Pennsylvania, a very outspoken abortion foe, was caught telling his girlfriend to get an abortion*. Apparently, all his abortion stand meant to him was some guaranteed votes. I think such behavior stems from assuming power people do not have. The problem is: we let them get away with it. Evil does prevail in darkness where we only see what we want to see through the tunnel vision of our sins.

My high school had a Halloween carnival one year where we created a scary room in which we lead people along a darkened path making them think they were near the edge of a ledge, dipped their hands in a bowl of eyeballs they could not see that were grapes in egg whites, and other frightening experiences that if participants had seen would have made them laugh at their fear.

Darkness and the evil it protects is overcome by light.  In John 8:12 Jesus is quoted as saying:

 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’

As followers of Christ, we are called to amplify his light so that all can transition from darkness to light.

Prayer: God of Light, help us to let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Amen.

*https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2017-10-04/pro-life-rep-tim-murphy-pressured-mistress-to-get-abortion
**Based on Matthew 5:16

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

The World is Too Much With Us

confidencer in GodLent
March 14, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:1-2

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever!  

Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures forever.’ –Psalm 118:1-2

Pardon me if I reach back in memory to recall William Wordsworth’s poem The World is Too Much With Us but it so appropriate right now as our society seems to be in search of Pagan gods who shift shape as need be like Proteus or blow a loud horn like Triton. Read it for yourself and you might agree with me:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

In this week leading up to Palm Sunday we reflect on Psalm 118 and take great comfort at the beginning of Holy Week in the fact that God is good and that God’s steadfast love does endure forever. We might want to pay particular attention to that word “endure” because it probably aptly states what God thinks about us at those times when we give up on God and turn to the lesser deities of the world described well in ancient Greek myth.

Prayer: Lord, be our bridge over the troubled waters we face in our world today. Make us whole so that we can be your light to the world that at times seems upside down. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.